Improving the NBA Draft Lottery Reform

It finally happened. After multiple seasons of intense debate, the NBA has a new lottery system.

A brief recap: Rebuilding was an accepted part of the NBA lifecycle until several teams (and one in particular) took the concept to extremes. These tanking efforts became obvious, calculated, and intentional. Gone was the PR spin helping the league save face. The results were not surprising. Teams were comically bad and few enjoyed watching games that damaged the league’s reputation.

This extreme tanking was met with similarly extreme proposals to reform the system. Popular proposals included the wheel or rookie free agency. These types of reforms challenge the basic philosophy that the worst…